Insieme.(Restaurant review)

Brad Pitt's most embarrassing job, he is fond of pointing out, was at El Pollo Loco, where he was made to dress as a giant chicken. Less famously, Jake Gyllenhaal, as a teen-ager, washed dishes for the chef Marco Canora, who was in the midst of his first big-time gig, at Tom Colicchio's Craft. Canora and his partner, Paul Grieco--following their success with Hearth, in the East Village--opened Insieme four months ago, at the Michelangelo Hotel. The other night, Gyllenhaal called Canora there. "Sure, come on over," Canora told him.

Gyllenhaal brought his mom. It's that kind of place: not too noisy, safe for the parents. Or so it seems. The restaurant's unprepossessing room and unprepossessing locale promise mere proficiency but deliver profligate flavor and spirited service. Take the wine list, compiled by Grieco, and packed with musings about Britney Spears and Pope Bertrand. (It's more enlightening than it sounds.) Cabernet Sauvignon, Grieco writes, is the offspring of Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc, who "apparently got together in the ...